Should Orlando welcome Uber?: Front Burner

San Francisco-based Uber has rattled the taxi industry around the world by offering a competing "ridesharing" approach to transportation.

Under the company's UberX service, passengers can use a smartphone app to summon drivers willing to give them a ride in their personal vehicles for a fee. Uber takes a cut in those transactions.

Uber contends its service should not be subject to the same government regulations and fees as conventional taxis, because its business model is different.

Taxi companies, and many of the localities that regulate them, disagree. Last month, a committee of the U.S. Conference of Mayors called on UberX "to halt all operations."

Uber launched UberX in Orlando last month. And last week, in a sting operation, Orlando ticketed five UberX drivers and towed their vehicles because they didn't have city driver and vehicle permits. Miami and Tampa also have ticketed UberX drivers.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer has met with Uber executives, and both sides have expressed interest in working out a mutually agreeable way for the company to operate in the city.

In one of today's columns, an Uber executive argues that the company's "transformative" approach to transportation will be a boon for passengers, drivers and the city.

In the counterpoint, an executive with Central Florida's leading taxi owner contends it's not fair or safe to give UberX drivers a pass from the regulations and fees that apply to taxis.

By the numbers

130, 39: Number of cities and countries in which Uber says it now operates.